How to go for the Right Career Opportunities at any Stage in Life

Every stage in life is coupled with a unique set of challenges. Of course, as kids, our careers were not such a big deal after all because play was the main agenda back then. But as we grew up, we gradually acknowledged the fact that our careers would later on influence our lives in so many ways. Problem is, we want to be perfect in an imperfect world. We hate failure but the world is indifferent to it. We want to succeed but the world seems to be busy crafting as many challenges as possible. We want to go for the right career opportunities at any stage in life but there are huddles we constantly face such as:

Unyielding Competition

Competition is a common denominator in job markets today. But job market competition has no designated rules and regulations. It’s an unregulated jungle out there considering the fact that employers have different needs regarding the kind of people they seek to hire. So you’ll also have to adjust yourself to suit the diverse personalities of recruiters. The worst bit about it is the surging numbers of competitors considering the number of graduates being churned out by universities every year. It’s no wonder some careers are already so flooded to the point where people have been forced to branch out to other careers paths.

Unpredictable Job Market Trends

We all know how job markets are currently trending. And the overall news is not very encouraging. Do people succeed in job markets? Absolutely! But, they form the minority percentage of job seekers. We all know how retrenchments catch people unaware. Manipulation in job interviews is a common norm these days. It has even reached a point where people are increasingly avoiding job interviews. Yes, there are even reports of people who’ve absolutely QUIT looking for jobs. Same obsolete degrees are being offered by institutions at a phenomenal rate, only for graduates to get a rude shock when they hit the job market.

Career Indecision

Case in point, many of us would like to maintain an upward momentum in our careers, but we also run the risk of jeopardizing our job security. Employers will want to keep you especially if you’ve got great skill, and yet there might be someone somewhere who’s more than willing to pay you more. If you stick to your current job for long, then you risk abrupt retrenchment in future when your skills become obsolete. If you hop from one job promotion to another, it gives you a bad reputation and the employers you meet in future will be hesitant to hire you.

Career Disappointments and Shortcomings

Life has this occasional tendency of giving us one hell of a hard smack back to reality. Reason being that many people are motivated to ’aim for the stars’ in their careers, only for them to face several disappointments and shortcomings as reality settles in with time. Some find it hard to adjust while others simply call it quits and descend into a life of depression, misery and anxiety. Ultimately, astronomical career ambition can’t guard you from the pangs of reality.

Inconsistencies in one’s Career Streak

From the superficial aspect of things, there should be a chronological sequence in careers. But in actual fact, many of us have got several inconsistencies in our career streak. Could be that you called off college for a year to embark on a start-up venture. Or maybe, you just quit your degree altogether. For others, it might be a long period of unemployment before bouncing back. Even seemingly perfect innovators like Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates have inconsistencies in their career streak. In any case, both are Harvard drop outs and yet, their inventions and innovations have revolutionized the world today by leaps and bounds...

How then does one go for the Right Career Opportunities at any Stage in life?

#1 Avoid Limiting Formalities that are choking your Potential

Everyone has got their own unique potential. Unfortunately, some formalities can be the reason why you are not going for the right opportunities. For instance, what if you are a natural at a certain hobby and yet, your academic qualifications are not related to your hobby? Many would opt to stick to their academic credentials despite the fact that they’re consistently rejected in job interviews. Then they would use that rejection to condemn themselves and conclude that they’ve got no potential. Yet, if they gave their hobby some seriousness, then they would experience the ultimate fulfillment that one can ever have in their career.

#2 Be Open-minded and Flexible enough to Exploit Uncharted Waters

Let’s say that you currently have a miserable job and it seems like you have no other alternative. You then decide to change your career altogether and soon enough, you find something that you actually like. But, the career is quite new and not well known in your country which means that there is no established market. Will you go back to your miserable job or will you give your new career a try? After all, pioneers usually end up being major stake holders in their respective fields. Of course, you have the option of using ’realistic’ excuses such as limited funding, uncharted market and so forth. But you’ve got to remember that no OUTSTANDING success comes on a silver platter. In fact, the greater the success story, the greater the challenges involved.

#3 Let your Personality be the Ultimate Guiding light

Pay is the major factor people consider when going for career opportunities. Unfortunately, we fail to acknowledge the aspect of change. A lucrative career today can be obsolete a year from now. Worse still, it can turn out to be everyone’s secret and soon enough, it ’s flooded. BUT, if you choose a career opportunity that’s in tune with your personality, then it won’t matter whether the path is flooded or not. The strength of your personality will give you an added advantage over those that are merely doing their jobs.

We all want to make the right decisions in life, but there is a paradox to this. Something that’s right for you might seem unconventional to the majority. But the majority aren’t always right. As Mark Twain once said, "Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it’s time to pause and reflect."